Interpreting the true meaning of love
by avatarkataang
Summary: Aang and Katara have to interpret twelve phrases in order to survive against people in hoods and robes. They only have 48 hours, and the only way to live is to win. Very, very hard, so don't expect for you to get it right away. Pairings lean to Kataang
1. The Island

"Hey, Aang. That looks like a good place to stop!" Katara chimed in.

"I don't know… it's not on the map," Sokka blurted out.

"Is Kyoshi Island on the map?"

"No."

"Then we go! Besides, how bad could one small island be?"

The island really was as small as it looked from the air. As the bison groaned in content and immediately went to sleep, the gang unpacked their stuff. But, as quick as a dragondillo could roll up, their mouths were muffled, and soon they were tied with ropes and knocked unconscious.

Katara shook her head and stood up, realizing that she was in a large metal room, stripped of her water pouch, and Aang's staff was missing. Sokka was nowhere to be seen, and there were eleven figures in black cloaks. The leader, apparently, could easily be identified by the blue hood instead of the other ten black hoods.

"Who are you, where's Sokka, and what do you want?" Aang shouted to them.

"Pass this test, and you and your friends will go free. Your friend was an oaf; we could tell by the way he talked when you landed on our island. Therefore, he is disqualified."

"Disqualified? What is this, a game?" Katara demanded.

Another figure chuckled and shook his head side to side. "If you call gambling between life and death 'games', then I suppose so."

"Death? What do you mean?"

A third voice, this one old and hoarse, spoke up. "The rules are simple. We will test you on your knowledge. If you pass, you move on to the next 'level'. There are a total of five levels, each one using different techniques to get the answer. If you fail, however, on any of the levels, you will, as you kids say it, 'die.'"

"Enough!" The one with the blue hood raised his hand, completely covered by robe. "This starts now. Phase one; you must interpret the meanings of these phrases. There will be eleven total. Get eight of these right, and you will move on. Get less than eight, you will die. You don't want to find out how."

"Oh yes, and we know about your abilities, Avatar. So, if you or your waterbending friend tries to attack us in any way possible or imaginable, the oaf dies- and you get to see him die right in front of you. So I suggest you pay heed to our warning."

"Also, to give people a fair chance, since the last pair that came didn't have a prayer, we've decided to give you two days. The prisoner, the lemur, and the bison will be fed and handled properly. You may discuss it with each other, but you may only stay in the room we give you. Everything you need to live is in there."

Aang clenched his teeth, and Katara's eyes were filled with pure hatred- and fear.

"Let us begin."

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"If you are perfect, you have not yet reached perfection."

"Pulling perfect teeth will make your teeth perfect."

"Perfection, without a doubt, simply isn't perfect if you perfect it."

"Hanging on to life means that life hangs on for you."

"Death is something even God cannot stop; Life is something even the Devil cannot stop. But the one thing that they both cannot stop is the ability to make you know the difference between life and death."

"Eyesight is not for seeing things."

"No one can teach anything if something is not taught."

"No one can learn anything if something is not learned."

"When times are dark, you look for light."

"We have hands and feet for a reason, and it is not for the reason you think it is."

"Thinking will only lead to disaster."

"You have 48 hours. Your room is on the far right side of this hall. Time is ticking."

With that, the hooded figures turned and disappeared through a door, and the two headed to their room. Inside were one bed, a table with fruit and water, and a small stall, which appeared to be the bathroom.

"Hey, maybe I can use the water from the shower to get us free!" Katara exclaimed.

"Remember their warning, Katara. Don't, or Sokka might…"

"Oh yea, I forgot…" Then, without warning, Katara fell on the bed, and a single tear shed her eye. "What if we don't make it out? The whole world is depending on you, Aang."

"We will, Katara. And that is why we have to get started right now." Aang grabbed an apple, threw a pear to Katara, and began to read aloud the first line, which was inscribed on the metal wall.

"If you are perfect, you have not yet reached perfection…"

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I am leaving this up for a while until my next update, and for this one, the readers (that's you) have to try and guess the meaning of these phrases. The story could go two ways: either you people out there get 8 interpretations correct, and the story goes on, or the ladder is you don't get 8 interpretations correct, and the story will twist and turn.

Good luck trying to solve these! (you can make an educated guess, as long as you try!)

I gave these to my friend, and he figured out five... and three were correct answers. Many of these are hard, so don't expect them to be a piece of pie! When I have sensed that everyone has tried, I will update.


	2. Note for Readers

Here I am, packing my stuff, and suddenly remembering ffnet. So, here comes the bad news and the good news:

The Bad News: I am going to Shanghai and Taiwan, and visiting my grandmas and grandpas. This means that I will have very little chance of getting internet to post stories.

The Good News: I am bringing my laptop, and hopefully, if I do to my dad's company, I will be able to use the internet plug-in from one of the computers (my dad is the vice-president of the company, and grandpa is the president and founder). Therefore, if I get a chance to go to my dad's company, then I will most likely get internet.

Also, on the plane, I will continue writing my stories "Meant to be" and "Interpreting the True Meaning of Love" (funny, the last time I was on an airplane writing fanfictions, the story "Meant to be" was created. Chapters 1-5 were written on the long 12-hour plane trip.)

A little more good news than bad, won't you agree? And for those of you wondering the status of my stories, I am halfway done with both "Meant to be" and "Interpreting the true meaning of Love". Meanwhile, I hope that all of you that didn't review to review!

Happy Holidays, from AvatarKataang.


	3. Day 1: Time's Up

Congrats to the people who tried…and pie for the people who got it right! I will list the names of the ones who got it right at the end of this chapter, but don't skip. DO NOT SKIP. Otherwise it ruins the purpose…

I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. If I did, I would be at least 25.

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For the past couple of hours, Aang and Katara ate fruit, took individual showers, and they both lay on one bed, trying to figure out what in the world the sentences meant. So far, they have come up with these answers:

"How can we get out of here if we don't even have one statement?" Aang exclaimed, after what seemed like an infinite amount of time, all spent on hard work and thinking.

"Maybe we should take a break. Let's get some sleep, and maybe some answers will appear when we wake up." Katara sighed, and pulled down her bands, so that her long, brown hair dropped down. Aang stared at her, paralyzed, until a knock on the door snapped him out of his state.

"Dinner." A voice grunted, and two trays were pushed into the room from under the door. It was filled with food, and the smell overwhelmed both of them.

"Sleeping can wait, can't it?" Aang flashed a grin at Katara, who only smiled weakly in return, dusting the dust off of her clothes after standing up. Suddenly, as she was walking toward the food, she stopped, as if something had occurred on her mind.

"How do we know how much time we have left?" She turned to Aang's bed, but found just the bed. Aang was reading a note left on the bottom of his dinner tray. His expression grew from puzzlement to confusion to fear.

"Ten minutes left…" he panicked, and held out the note for Katara. She snatched it and ffrantically and read:

_You children must be more stupid than we thought._

_Ten minutes left. Finish your food, and get ready._

"How do they know we didn't figure anything out yet?" Aang only shrugged in response.

"Well, we can't sleep now, we have ten minutes left. We'll just eat, and think while eating." Aang carried his tray, plopped on the bed, and started shoving steamed broccoli into his mouth. But as Katara went to get hers, she noticed a small note on _her_ tray also.

_What is the meaning of perfection? Perfection means a lot of things, but to be perfect, someone has to have all the good traits possible, right?_

_A good leader tries to save every possible soldier under his command to live another day. A great leader loves and respects the men who serve him, but is willing to sacrifice the ones under his command with no second thoughts. But what is the definition of a perfect leader?_

"Aang, look at this." She walked over to his bed and handed him the note. Aang stared at it and swallowed his veggies, then looked up.

"Aren't they the opposite? But then to be perfect, you have to have all the good traits. If you try to save every possible soldier, then you can't sacrifice them. It's one or the other…" Realization suddenly dawned upon him, and Aang's face twisted into a grin, but it disappered just as quickly as it had come.

**TIME'S UP**


	4. Who got it right?

I am writing this to thank all of the people who had tried to cheer me up, including my parents, my friends, and the following people who had cared to speak:

Princess Yue

Lord Cargyle

Kumori Doragon

Animegirl94

Libowiekitty

Stuckatschool

Frozenheat

Blackblur87

Chocolatecoveredbananacheese

Also, thanks to the following, because they have been with me and reviewing my stories from the start, whether it is spelling/grammar, or just "I like your story":

7Katara7

Frozenheat

Abcdefg…

AmyAddict1

SilvrImage

The original members of the "Boomerang Squad": Jesus.Lives, charleegirl, and Liselle129, whose stories and reviews and words of wisdom/comfort always cheered me up, and the person who got out of my temporary "writers block", so to say.

One last person I would like to thank, for staying by my side when I was down. The best friend one could ever have: Lord Momo.

Now for answers. The story will continue next chapter.

I have to admit that everyone did well, but the top three are the following, first being the first name:

Anonymous reviewer "WhispersInTheDark", for answering the closest of what I had in mind: 6 out of 11 correct.

FFnet Member of the Boomerang Squad "Liselle129", for answering short and to the point, though not fully explaining it. Five out of Eleven.

The Third place goes to all the other reviewers who had even tried, but the closest were Paradocks, AA1, and Zou.Jin-The.Almighty (I will personally tell you what you got wrong and right, hopefully soon).

One person in my school got 10 out of 11 right, and I was shocked. But I won't post his name for reasons I'm sure you would understand. But she deserves to be mentioned.

Note that there is no right answer, and no wrong answer, so long as it isn't too far from what it is supposed to mean.

Once again, when I hopefully post the next chapter up, note that there is no right answer. Look at everyone's reviews. There are different ideas, but most of them lead to the same thing, though only from different words and perspectives.

(Liselle129, I really like your answer for number 5. I am writing an oratorical for graduation of the 8th grade about the importance of knowledge and education. You are the first one to mention the forbidden fruit out of more than 20+ people that I've asked so far at school. How I know of the forbidden fruit, I do not know. Have a BoomerAANG)

As a last note, thank all of you for supporting my writing, and helping me get through writer's block during winter break to let me post one chapter for Meant To Be. I sincerely thank you.


	5. Quietus Diligo

I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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"Plasma…" the old man muttered.

"The kids are bright, I can tell, but they have never learned what plasma even is. It would be unfair, just test them on the simple states, no plasma."

"I disagree", another one spoke up. "If he is going to reach his full potential, he needs to master firebending. And that means plasma is something he must know."

Voices overlapped each other, as the men in cloaks silently argued what's right and wrong. Suddenly the old man raised a hand, and all was silent. "The Avatar has not yet learned earthbending from our knowledge. He had just come back from the North Pole. Wind is in the form of gas, water is in the form of water, earth is in the form of solids, and fire is in many forms. Fire is the most difficult to learn, since fire is hard to control, hard to understand. It took me thirty years to fully understand and master it." He clenched his hand and his hand began to glow, and when he released, a burst of blue flames spewed out.

"The Avatar is not ready, and plasma will not be his burden."

"But what about the water tribe girl? The Avatar is smart, as are all of the others, but because of the water tribe girl, he cannot concentrate."

"I have also noted this. The girl will be removed from the Avatar after the first puzzle is completed. I have noted this, and even if they get the answers wrong, they will continue. The Avatar cannot love, and we will teach that to him, as well as discipline and calmness." He paused, pulled his hood down.

"If they are separated, the Avatar will just miss her even more, and when they are reunited, they will never let go of each other ever again." One said firmly.

"No they won't. Quietus Diligo. The food tastes the same with it. The Avatar will not love ever again." The old man stood up, and placed his hands in front of his mouth, and boomed "Times Up".

"Let's see how our other pair is doing. The Avatar and his friend have less than 24 hours left. Let the stupid pair have a moment, then execute them. Quickly. Silently."

"Yes, Excellency." The other ten climbed out of the hatch. The hatch closed behind them with a silent hiss.

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Your mission is to find out what the old man meant when he said Aang will never love again. This will not affect the story, but will cause you to say "How could you!" when you find out what Quietus Diligo means.


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